Power restored for many Thursday following underground electrical fire on Riverside Avenue

Bob.Mack@jacksonville.com - 4/23/14 - JFRD firefighters flood the space with extinguishers to put out the fire. An underground transformer beneath the 220 Riverside construction project caught fire around 10am on Wednesday April 23, 2014. Power was disrupted to the traffic lights and buildings in the area while JEA isolated the power going to the transformer and firefighters extinguished the fire with CO2 fire extinguishers. (The Florida Times-Union, Bob Mack)

Bob.Mack@jacksonville.com - 4/23/14 - A JEA worker checks the fire scene before power is isolated from the fire source. An underground transformer beneath the 220 Riverside construction project caught fire around 10am on Wednesday April 23, 2014. Power was disrupted to the traffic lights and buildings in the area while JEA isolated the power going to the transformer and firefighters extinguished the fire with CO2 fire extinguishers. (The Florida Times-Union, Bob Mack)

Technology prevented the loss of productivity at some Five Points and downtown businesses as many employees worked from home after an underground fire knocked out power in those areas.

An underground transformer caught fire Wednesday causing a power outage to an area housing thousands of Jacksonville employees Wednesday morning.

JEA spokeswoman Gerri Boyce said the utility restored power to two of the last three businesses affected — EverBank and Fidelity — about 2 p.m. Thursday.

The last business, LPS, has two of the three transformers operational, she said.

Boyce said LPS asked the utility to wait until all three transformers were working to turn power back on for the business. She said that wasn’t possible until late Thursday.

Boyce said investigators then will begin determining what caused the fire.

Power was restored to many of the businesses by Wednesday evening, including the Times-Union.

The Yates Family YMCA reopened at 11 a.m. after power was restored Thursday.

According to JEA, fire damage to underground electrical wiring was extensive, causing a delay, the YMCA said in an e-mail.

Michael Cosgrove, spokesman for EverBank, said even though the company’s Riverside location lost power, there was no loss of productivity.

He said the 266 employees housed at the Riverside location either moved to the downtown or Southside location or worked from home.

Cosgrove said the blackout was “a little disruptive” but EverBank has “very detailed business continuity plans and they went fully into effect” Wednesday. He said the plans “worked seemlessly.”

“There was no impact on our ability to serve clients,” he said.

Kristin Seay, a CSX spokeswoman, said the railroad company’s headquarters lost power about 11 a.m.

She said “at no time were train operations or customer services in jeopardy.”

About 1,500 CSX employees at the headquarters were evacuated from the building.

After it was clear it would take hours to restore electrical power, employees were allowed to work from home. She also said there was no loss of productivity.

Jean Tate, spokeswoman for the Federal Reserve, said Federal Reserve Bank in Jacksonville lost power about 10 a.m. and generators kicked in almost immediately.

She said power was restored by JEA by 5:30 p.m. and there wasn’t a significant impact on bank operations.

The American Red Cross’s Riverside Avenue office wasn’t closed because of a past “generous gift” from the Professional Golf Association Tour that allowed the organization to buy a generator, spokeswoman Christian Smith said.

Smith said after Red Cross officials realized many of the surrounding businesses didn’t have electricity the organization offered to lend a hand.